Satisfied, the vines scattered.
The dense vegetation, vines within the forest, and giant mushrooms blocked out the sunlight as well as the sounds of combat.
This was the Abyss, a place where a human could be eaten and the bones wouldn't be regurgitated. There were no rodent-class or arthropod-class creatures here because they were too weak. But those creatures that were hundreds of times stronger than them were by no means invincible either—the soil of the Abyss was rich in nutrition because it was saturated with flesh and blood, which may have been the reason why mushrooms could flourish.
Across uneven terrain, An Zhe walked in. The ground that was covered with moss, dead branches and fallen leaves was too soft and close to the swamp, so when animals moved over it, they made no noise.
He clearly felt that the Abyss's atmosphere had changed. Usually, slaughter and fights happened at any given moment and powerful monsters often roamed the jungles to inspect their territories, but throughout his entire journey today, he only ran into a silently slithering python.
They seemed to have all gone into hibernation.
But An Zhe paid no heed to the comings and goings of the monsters.
He blankly stared at this boundless place where not even sunlight could shine in.
To his left was a dark red mushroom ten meters tall, settled amidst several massive rocks. Mucus that smelled like blood continually oozed from its cap, and its giant body seemed to breathe, rising and falling in the air.
An Zhe laid a finger against its stem and felt it get wrapped up by the mucus.
He had never seen a mushroom like this before.
Fear suddenly filled the expression in his eyes, and he averted his gaze to look elsewhere. Just then, his pupils dilated, his body went cold, and he began to tremble.
He didn't recognize where he was.
He did not recognize this place.
Then, heaving for breath, he sprinted pell-mell through the jungle. This was the Abyss. The blood-soaked soil, the waterlogged swamp, the monsters lurking in the dark—the Abyss was still the Abyss, but it was no longer the familiar place from his memories.
The Abyss was so big, just what did he have to do to find the place from before?
He strove to think back, but he could only remember those distinctive mushrooms. Back then, he relied on them to remember his route.
So he kept walking and searched constantly, using both his legs and his hyphae. Night came after day, and after night came morning again, but every single plain seemed familiar, and every single cave was utterly empty.
There were no clues and no familiar places whatsoever. He didn't remember how many times he'd seen the sun set or how many times he'd been disappointed by empty caves.
After some time had passed, he could not walk any further. His hyphae, no longer as soft and dexterous as before, were dissolving and breaking off, and his human body was likewise weakening apace with the depletion of his life.
At a quiet lakeside, a withered vine tripped him.
A sharp stone sliced open his palm. He knelt on the ground and buried his face in his hands as he trembled all over.
He couldn't find it. He couldn't find that cave.
A mushroom's life had only one season. They would die when they got old, and new ones would grow again. The face of the Abyss changed constantly with the intergenerational replacement of mushrooms. The original road, the road he had firmly committed to memory—was no more.
Surrounded by mushrooms and dead trees, he looked at the sky in despair. He didn't know. He didn't know that things would be so—so merciless.
Lu Feng was right. He had no idea how big the world was.
He couldn't possibly find it, unless his life was as long as eternity itself. But he was a mushroom, his existence ephemeral.
He was destined to die while searching for that cave.
Nothing in the world lasted forever.
Not even the very first promise.
Salty tears trickled over the tiny bramble-inflicted cuts on his face. It hurt all over, but it was far from covering up the despair and collapse in his heart. He took a deep breath and blankly looked at the pool to his side.
He fell into a daze.
In the water, there seemed to be a voice, an indescribable frequency calling him to leave. The entire world went out of focus.
Jump, jump, everything is over.
Happy things, painful things, they're all no longer needed.
Under the bewitchment of the voice's call, he walked one step at a time to the lakeside, where the water was so clear that his reflection showed. He and An Ze looked so alike, when the ripples blurred the lines, it seemed like it was An Ze in there calling to him.
However one was born in ignorance was likewise however one would die in ignorance.
In the Abyss, in this… sorrowful place.
As though a switch in his memory had been flipped, a voice suddenly sounded in his ear. That was his own voice.
"There on the sad height,” the voice murmured, "Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray."
"… Do not go gentle into that good night."
"What is the meaning," he asked, "of 'do not go gentle into that good night'?"
Lin Zuo, the teacher of the Garden of Eden, replied, "Do not meekly accept destruction."
After a short pause, it changed again.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me." He softly recited verses to someone. That day, they had walked a long way together, not knowing what was up ahead.
On that day, in the wilderness, bringing him along in the night, what had that person been thinking while walking amidst the sounds of the primeval wind?
Facing the impending strange fate, did that person also have the same despair in his heart? How did he continue walking?
He…
An Zhe hung his head and discovered that he had once again gripped the Arbiter's badge in his hand at some point. The badge's points and edges pricked his already bloody hand.
The illusory daze instantly fell back, and he backpedaled a few steps.
He thought, What was I doing just now?
Sharp pain traveled up from his ankle, for the rock that had just cut his palm now struck his ankle.
He bent down to remove the sharp gray stone jutting from the flat ground so that it would trip no other creature, but then suddenly noticed something.
There was a jet-black scorch mark on the stone that seemed like it had been made with a burned branch, forming a crooked ugly arrow that pointed southeast.
He fell into deep thought. According to his limited knowledge, the Abyss did not have creatures that could draw arrows.
And as for these kinds of strange gray rocks, he seemed to have seen them once or twice before in other places within the Abyss, but he had been single-mindedly searching for the cave, so he had paid them no heed.
He looked around and finally chose to go in the direction indicated by the arrow. He walked for a very long time, and yet another gray rock appeared, jutting out from the flat ground. Half of it was buried in the dirt and half of it was exposed, and there was an arrow on the exposed portion.
An Zhe continued walking. Not only gray rocks were marked. Sometimes, there would be marks on tree branches or white bones as well. After five days passed, he discovered that he had been continually heading to the southern part of the Abyss, approaching the highlands, where the environment was dry and harsh and where few creatures would go.
But on the same day, he could not find any other rocks.
He stood blankly under a tree and put great effort into scanning the surroundings, wondering whether he had gone the wrong way.
Suddenly, a pebble struck his shoulder.
"Are you lost?" A smiling male voice sounded behind him.
An Zhe turned around. Unexpectedly, he heard a human's voice again.
A willowy and handsome black-haired man was standing next to a tree, a gray rock in his right hand. He blinked at An Zhe and said, "The guidepost is here with me. I hadn't put it down yet."
While looking at him, An Zhe slowly frowned.
"Tang Lan?" He called out a name.
"You recognize me?" The man's smile contained nonchalant and carefree undertones as he examined An Zhe. "I haven't seen you at the base before."
"I haven't seen you before either." After double-checking this person's appearance, An Zhe said, "I know Hubbard."
The moment he spoke Hubbard's name, the laid-back smile vanished from the man's face.